ISTANBUL - Mayor of Istanbul once again warned on Friday that the Turkish metropolis was at risk of a possible major earthquake and said that more than 1.5 million buildings in the city should be reinforced.
"Strong buildings at solid grounds are precautions for a major earthquake," Kadir Topbas told a ceremony held to mark the launch of an urban transformation project in Istanbul.
Topbas said unhealthy urbanization in Turkey should be avoided, citing the upsurge in Istanbul`s population.
"More than 12 million people settled in Istanbul over the past 50 years. And now there are nearly 1.6 million buildings to be reinforced," Topbas said.
He said the cost of this reinforcement was about 17.5 billion USD, adding that such a fund was almost impossible to be collected by local governments.
(TÇ-ULG)